The Station Agent
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

Independent cinema has so much to offer that corporate films lack. This is a very cute film with oddball Americanna characters in a rural setting. There is a blend of lightness and tragedy as the characters get to know each other, eventually revealing their demons to each other in an exchange of desperate trust. There is also a strong sense of human family which is reinforced throughout the film. I think that unless you're in the mood for a Kung Fu movie or a Hollywood Action™ film you'll enjoy 'The Station Agent'. And if you like stories that feature lots of trains and train-related themes you will be delighted by this film, and it might even help heal some of the mental wounds left on us all by 'Trainspotting'.

Bubba Ho-Tep
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

This is the essence of what the genius B movie has become. In the tradition of Roger Corman and Ed Wood, this film doesn't let its crappy production value or absurd premise get in the way of exploring deeply profound themes within the story. Fans of Bruce Campbell (best known for his role as Ash in 'Evil Dead' and 'Evil Dead II') will love him in this. He plays a 70+ year old Elvis Presley who has retired to an East Texas convalescent home having switched identities years earlier with an Elvis impersonator who died before they could switch back. He meets up with a man (Ozzie Davis) who is convinced that he is an aged JFK despite the fact that he is black. Together they discover and do battle with....now see if you can follow me here....the evil reincarnated zombified mummy of an Egyptian pharoh who is sucking the souls out of the residents of the convalescent home. I'm not sure if I can say much else about 'Bubba-Ho-Tep'. Yes, I think that's about it.

Lolita
(1962)

[IMDB Link]

Between this film and Stanley Kubrick's previous film 'Spartacus' we get an indication of where the young director is wanting to take his career. That is: films that generally shock and scandalize by pushing boudaries and buttons while still meeting the very highest standards of cinematic and creative achivement. He became known as a director who embraced depictions of extreme violence....'Spartacus' contained material that was unusually brutal and gruesome for 1960 and clearly paved the way for his ultra-violent cinematic rendition of 'A Clockwork Orange' released 11 years later. But 'Lolita' shows that he doesn't want to always resort to violence to shock his audience. As in his final masterpiece 'Eyes Wide Shut', this film seems to dare the audience to reject it based on its characters' violation of societal standards, while still mesmerizing the viewer with striking photography and shot construction. In films like 'Full Metal Jacket' and 'The Shining' he combines violence with more subtley challenging themes to achieve his goal. For those of you who don't know the basic premise of 'Lolita', it is about the forbidden love of a middle-aged man for a teenage girl who's name is Lolita. What makes the story so scandalous is that it treats Prof. Humbert (the middle-aged man) as a mainly sympathetic character who's demons come from the judgement of society, not his own innapropriately placed affections. Many people who are fans of the book by Vladamir Nabakov think this film lacked the intensity of the character portrayal in the book, and that may be so. But the film manages to capture a subtle tension that is quite unique and well ahead of its time. Fans of Peter Sellers will notice the precursor to his multi-role performance in Kubrick's next film 'Dr. Strangelove'.

Niagara
(1953)

[IMDB Link]

In some ways this is a trashy Noir throw-away, but it is always amazing to watch Marilyn Monroe in action. I love the way she sex-bombs the set in every single scene she's in. A size-12 girl like her wouldn't have much of a chance in Hollywood today, and that's really a shame. And I must say that Jean Peters, who was cast as the demure and bookish counterpoint to Ms. Monroe, managed to evoke a kind of sexy-librarian thing that also worked quite well. The film is full of fantastic footage from around the Niagara Falls area, including the tunnels and stairs, Maid-of-the-Mist, and some beautiful shots of the falls themselves from many different angles. I would recommend this film only to those who really like old-fashioned style movies.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
(1954)

[IMDB Link]

Woo hoo! This film is every bit as good as I remember it from when I was a kid seeing it in a double feature with 'Pete's Dragon'. It is an adaptation of Jules Verne's sci-fi classic, and it stars a very frisky Kirk Douglass (who also SINGS!) and the dour James Mason as Captain Nemo. I would go so far as to say that this film was the greatest achievement in cinematic special effects up to the time of its production (1954) and was not eclipsed in that catagory until 1969's '2001: A Space Odessey'. As I was watching I was wanting to go on eBay and find a toy model Nautalus (Nemo's super-cool submarine) and as I thought of this it occurred to me how long Disney has been the reigning champ of film merchandising. Upon reflection I feel like their success has its origins not in the skill of the merchandisers, but in the spectacular creative properties of the films themselves. All of the marketing in the world couldn't make me want a toy Nautalus....it's the excellence of the film and the depiction of how cool it is that makes me want it. Like Sully from 'Monsters, Inc.'....I don't want the stuffed figure because it's cute, but because the character in the film is so likable. Anyway, I am not sure who wouldn't like this film except perhaps people that I don't want to know or talk to.

Rashômon
(1950)

[IMDB Link]

Another piece of archtypal cinema from the amazing Akira Kurosawa. This film uses the now-classic technique of telling the same story multiple times from the perspective of different witnesses. In doing so it points out the subjective nature of storytelling and the affected properties of memory. Some of the photography is so modern that you can't tell this was being filmed barely 4 years into Japan's post-war reconstruction, but that is not surprising considering who is behind the camera. 'Rashomon' is probably not as universally likable as 'Yojimbo' or 'Seven Samurai', but for fans of Kurosawa and students of film history this is an absolute must-see.

Starsky & Hutch
(2004)

[IMDB Link]

How cool is Snoop Dogg? About as cool as humanly possible. And in some ways Huggy Bear is the best film character he could ever play; a stylish and good-hearted king of the urban underworld....outside of the law but with a code of honor that makes him a model of macho morality. In the original TV series Antonio Vargas depicted Huggy as kind of a 2-bit hood, while Snoop's version is more of a godfather type in keeping with his own personal mythology that he unavoidably brings to the performance. NB: The DVD extra 'Fashion Fizizzle with Huggy Bizzle' is friggin' incredible. As for the rest of the film, Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller are great as always, and they bring their signiture chemistry to the portrayal of these famous TV characters. Overall not the best film of theirs, but quite good nontheless.

Real Women Have Curves
(2002)

[IMDB Link]

This is a great indie film from Los Angeles (NOT Hollywood!) about a young Meximerican woman who is finding her way out of her traditional family background to become a modern 'enlightened' American woman. There were many facets to the story, including self-image issues imposed on her by her mother and the inter-cultural disparities among Los Angeleans that in some ways reflects all of the US. The realistic depiction of a small South-Central sweatshop was enlightening for those of us who don't live in that world, and the many 'invisible' class disparities that privelidged folks usually don't notice are brought to the forefront of the story. There is a great scene involving a group of heavy-set women stripping down to their underwear to aleviate the stifling heat of their working environment. This becomes a scene of liberation and self-appreciation that is very inspiring and fun. The main character Ana is played by a young actress named America Ferrera who I hope to see again in other films. She does a remarkable job in this.

Nine Queens
(2000)

[IMDB Link]

The Rutles
(1978)

[IMDB Link]

If you still haven't seen this Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame) comedic mockery of the Beatles you absolutely must do. This is the very first feature 'mockumentary' film, a genre generally associated with the beloved 'This is Spinal Tap' and subsequently embellished by the likes of 'Best in Show', 'Waiting for Guffman', 'A Mighty Wind', 'Hard Core Logo' and others. Woody Allen's little known but amazing 'Zelig' also fits in this genre and preceded the release of 'Spinal Tap' by just one year. The 'false documentary' format had been used before 'The Rutles', just not in a feature film. The earliest notable example in cinematic form was a short film entitled 'Swiss Spaghetti Harvest' that was shown as an April Fool's joke on the British television news program 'Panorama' in 1957. However, clearly the very first use of this technique was the infamous 1938 Orson Welles radio broadcast of an adapted version of the classic sci-fi novel 'The War of the Worlds' that was written and performed so it would sound like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars. As you might have heard, that one caused quite a stir. At any rate, The Rutles' is friggin' hilarious.... especially if you're a Beatles fan.

The Way of the Gun
(2000)

[IMDB Link]

Zoolander
(2001)

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

Another surprise for those of us who thought Woody Allen had made his last good films in the 80's. I was reminded of 'Broadway Danny Rose' (IMO Mr. Allen's greatest film) in that the main character (played by Sean Penn) is called to a career that is a mixed blessing for him. Like Danny Rose, Emmet Ray is a bit of a rogue with character traits that would normally be quite annoying or even detestable. However, through a combination of story arc and performance he becomes entirely (or at least mostly) sympathetic. As with any period film made by Mr. Allen the sets and costumes are impeccable.Uma Thurman turns in a fantastic and authentic performance as an incidental character, and the rest of the cast delivers as well. I loved this film and I think you might too.

[IMDB Link]

This film is based on real events that were chronicled in a book of the same name written by Joe Simpson, who survived one of the most harrowing ordeals I have ever heard tale of. The construction of this film is also very interesting and somewhat unique in that they re-enacted all of the 'action' over contemporary interviews with the 3 men who were actually there, including the author of the book. This is a technique that most Americans are familiar with by way of such television programs as 'Unsolved Mysteries' or 'America's Most Wanted' and is usually kind of cheezy and low-budget. 'Touching the Void' manages to transcend this by creating re-enactment footage that is amazing to look at....and also keeping the dialogue in this footage to an absolute minimum, allowing the actual people (in VO interview) to characterize conversations and verbal interactions. This is another DVD where the 'bonus' material compliments the film viewing experience nicely.

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

This is a pretty interesting art film from Iran. It seems to pay tribute to the traditional European style of art-film. It has a slow thoughtful pace and deeply challenging themes. There are very few characters throughout the film, and this human sparseness is echoed by the plain landscape in which the film was shot. I can't strongly recommend this film, but I think that some folks might like it quite a bit. Sometimes sparse stories can leave a kind of 'space' in the mind of the viewer that creates a kind of Rorschach test. Only true filmnerds will appreciate this film, and even those folks might nod off halfway through.

[IMDB Link]

This is a very tragic story in the same vein as 'House of Sand and Fog'. It demonstrates the cruel twists of fortune that can quietly devastate the lives of good hearted people. The film received a lot of attention when it was released and if 2003 did not turn out to be the year of the 'Lord' it might have won Mr. Eastwood a second 'Best Director' Oscar (he won for 'Unforgiven' in 1992). All of the performances are great, but Tim Robbins gives the most perfectly affected and transformative performance I've ever seen him manage to achieve. This is not a good selection if you're in the mood for something uplifting, but it does manage to reach the very highest level of cinematic storytelling.

[IMDB Link]

This film's title sums it up very well....this is a film about very bad things. Very bad behavior, very bad decisions, very bad ideas, very bad fortune, very bad situations, and very bad people. I loved it. The violence was matter of fact and not gratuitous, but nevertheless the brutality reaches the very highest post-Peckenpahvian levels throughout the film. Christian Slater turns in a great performance, as does just about everyone else. Not for the squeamish or the easily offended, but if you love to laugh at physical comedy about decapitation and dismemberment, this film is for you.

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

This film is a perfect example of a documentary that explores how truth can be stranger than fiction. The phrase 'they couldn't WRITE this stuff' copiously applies. The story weaves 4 characters who have very non-standard professions and very refined views of the world that are based on their unique experiences. The director is Errol Morris who is also known for 'The Thin Blue Line', 'Gates of Heaven', and the more recent 'Fog of War'. I think most folks would enjoy this film....it's quirky and a little crazy, but also profound and inspiring.

[IMDB Link]

All the President's Men
(1976)

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

It is not hard to see why this film was so controversial. A 12 year old Brooke Shields plays the daughter of a 1917 New Orleans hooker (Susan Sarandon). In the course of the film her virginity is auctioned off, she poses nude for photographs, and falls in love with and marries a man in his 30's (Keith Carradine). Her character's sexually precocious behavior and the nude scenes she did throughout the film (including some 'full-frontal') were not what I found disturbing....it was that the film in some ways seemed to 'hearken back' to the good old days when older men who were aroused by pre-pubescent girls were not persecuted and vilified as they are today. The film was directed by the great French director Louis Malle ('My Dinner with Andre', 'Au revoir les enfants', among others)....but all French jokes aside, this film makes me a little suspicious of him.

[IMDB Link]

I am not even close to raving about this film like the critics and some of my friends have been, but I will say that I liked it. It was OK. It's just that I don't see anything that makes it stand above other Holly-merican 'art' films. As with Mr. Tarantino's other films he borrows styles and themes from throughout 'modern' cinematic history to help paint his story with a distinctive collage style....but also like his other films you are left feeling like any real substance was replaced by one-liners, extra slickness, and a whole bunch of flash-sizzle. The fight choreography was created by the famous Yuen Woo-Ping, but while I was expecting that aspect of the film to be completely over the top, it was actually just so-so. Uma is great to watch and I did like the Peter-Greenway-like color temperature experiments that Mr. Tarantino seems to have added to his palette. The animé sequence was very true-to-the-genre and I liked how it suddenly asserted itself into the middle of the live-action film. Anyway, I'll probably get more negative comments for this review than I deserve (I'm not panning it!), but I just can't get on the 'Tarantino is a genius' bandwagon. I still plan to watch 'Vol. 2' when it comes out on DVD.

Stray Dog
(1949)

[IMDB Link]

The Doors: Soundstage Performances
(1969)

Buena Vista Social Club
(1999)

[IMDB Link]

This film is as much about the scenery in the streets of Havana, Cuba as it is about the remarkable music it preserves. The unfakable charm of the cast of characters is as infectious as the music they create, and the long establishing shots of the streets of Havana are endlessly fascinating. On the one hand it's like the place is frozen in time as the buildings and cars all seem to come from some bygone era; but on the other hand the environment has deteriorated to an almost absurd level with the cars all showing signs of multiple resurrections and all the buildings' former grace and beauty obscured under dirt, soot, and the occasional unrepaired major collapse. The absurd relationship between America and Cuba is shown to be even more ridiculous in the face of this film....like two spoiled kids who won't speak to each other even though they are neighbors and have a lot in common. Don't get me wrong....this is NOT a political film, it is a musical film....and the music makes you want to go to Cuba.

Sanjuro
(1962)

[IMDB Link]

A follow-up to the famous 'Yojimbo', this film features the same wandering samurai character played by Toshirô Mifune. This time he wanders into another town that is plagued by corrupt and cowardly men of power and their minions. Once again, our hero outwits them all while maintaining his crude-yet-cool image....demanding food and sake while he half-sleeps his way through the crisis. There is no way not to love the samurai character created by Toshirô-san....probably the most indelible and iconic character in the history of Japanese cinema. This film was directed by Akira Kurosawa, I give it an "A", 'nuff said.

Samurai Jack: Season 1
(2001)

[IMDB Link]

This is a great kids' cartoon from The Cartoon Network. It borrows the best themes from classic samurai films and modern sci-fi animation with plenty of nods to 'Star Wars', 'Star Trek' and 'Indiana Jones'. It was created by Genndy Tartakovsky who is also the creator of 'Dexter's Laboratory' and the ever-popular 'Power Puff Girls', however this series seems like a much more mature effort both graphically and thematically, even though it is basically aimed at the same demographic (kids -and- adults who think it's hip to groove on kids' shows). This first season is 13 episodes, the first three of which form a ~75 minute feature-style origin story for the main characters and plot scenario. I am particularly enamored with the background art, which rolls through the frame like a variety of Japanese silk watercolor scrolls. The characters also have a unique style, varying from Kabuki-mask-like creatures to late 50's jet-set-jazz style cartoons. This is a fun series that almost everyone will enjoy.

Ghost in the Shell
(1995)

[IMDB Link]

More animé for those of us who can't get enough. This film was seen as the next big crowning achievement of the genre following the 7 year reign of 'Akira' (reviewed below) as 'greatest animé feature'. In the 9 years since the release of this film, the styles and themes of animé have flourished and fragmented to the point that there is no longer that one film you can point to and say 'that's the one'....so in a way this film was kind of the last lone reigning champion of animé. But this is not to say that the title was not well deserved. This is a much more exploitative film than 'Akira', which featured teenagers and very little serious sexuality or nudity. 'Ghost', on the other hand, shows violence and nudity that would likely be R or NC-17 if it was in non-animated form. Unlike lesser animé, the story is not a shallow action premise....this is REAL sci-fi in the vein of PK Dick, Gibson, or Stephenson. Fans of good animé and sci-fi cinema will not be disappointed.

Kon-Tiki
(1950)

[IMDB Link]

Many of you might remember seeing this film in your high-school anthropology class or on a Sunday morning PBS/National Geographic special. It is the story of a group of Danish researchers (led by the amazing Thor Heyerdahl) who in 1947 set out to prove that an Incan balsa-wood raft design from prehistoric South America would be capable of traversing the ~5000 mile distance from Chile to Tahiti and the South Sea Islands. The traditional thinking up to that point was that the Polynesian genetic and cultural heritage was derived exclusively from Southeast Asia, but Mr. Heyerdahl thought otherwise based on extensive studies in both Tahiti and South America, as well as his very traditional Danish rearing in the skills and knowledge of winds and currents as they relate to seafaring. Instead of writing a bunch of papers with theories about the parallels between Incan mythology and the traditional lore of the South Sea Islands etc., they built a raft to prehistoric specs and set out to cross the vast and open equatorial ocean that separates the west coast of South America from Polynesia, riding the trade winds and prevailing westerly currents. I hope I don't spoil the ending for you by telling you that they made it, and this film chronicles the truly amazing story of the adventure they had on the way. The footage is very rough and is all black & white, but it is still unbelievable to watch. This film won the Best Documentary feature Oscar in 1951.

The Triplets of Belleville
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

This is a film for animation purists. There is essentially no verbal dialogue and very little spoken language of any kind throughout the film. Instead communication is accomplished through gestures, facial expressions, music/singing, and a very insistent coach's whistle used by the matriarch of the story (with amusing results). The style of the film is absolutely unique, and in particular the characters are very oddly shaped, even by avant-garde animation standards. The detail and style of the backgrounds and establishing shots is impressive and the loosely referential 'Belleville' is presented as a kind of overstuffed retro-NYC. If you are first in line for 'Spike and Mike's' every year of if you just love non-Disney animated features, this film should prove to be very enjoyable.

Lost in Translation
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

X2: X-Men United
(2003)

[IMDB Link : X-Men]
[IMDB Link : X2]

I Soliti Ignoti
(1958)

[IMDB Link]

The literal translation of the title of this film is 'The Usual Unknown'.... 'Unknown' meaning 'unknown persons'. Because of the vagueness of this literal translation the release title for English language markets is 'Big Deal on Madonna Street'....which I think is a stupid name for a film. Anyway, this 1958 'commedia italia' film is a spoof on the 'caper' flick, and was partly inspired by the success of a 1957 British film called 'The Ladykillers' (now made more famous with the 2004 Coen brothers remake) which is reviewed below. 'I Soliti Ignoti' proves (to me) once and for all that the Italians are the coolest people on earth. The ensemble cast of Italy's most famous and popular actors of the time (including a truly charming performance by Marcello Mastroianni) paints a cool and hilarious picture of a group of macho, lazy, and indignant petty thieves who are nevertheless quite charming and likable. Their quippy banter is very hard to follow and a couple of times I had to go back through a scene in slo-mo in order to have enough time to read all the subtitles and get all the gestural context. The venerable Italian comedic actor Totò is also in this film....his films span the 30's through the 60's and were kind of like the Italian version of Chaplin, Laurel/Hardy, Three Stooges, Marx Bros etc.. At any rate, I loved this film but it might not be for everyone.

Big Fish
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

Pantaleón Y Las Visitadoras
(2000)

[IMDB Link]

If you see one Peruvian film this year about a secret military mission to deliver prostitutes to soldiers at remote military posts in the Amazon, make it this film. I was impressed with the photography and locations....very tropical. It is listed as a comedy, but it was actually a kind of serious film in some ways. The cultural standards for many of the characters' behaviors and decisions is somewhat different from the kind of thing you'd see in a typical Hollywood film. All-in-all I was not completely sold on the scenario the film presented, but I liked some of the character interaction and the sensuality and eroticism was also well developed. However, I am suspicious of any film that presents prostitution as a clean, safe, and respected middle-class job (kind of like 'Pretty Woman'). Not strongly recommended for all, but if you are looking for something international from South America or if you enjoy Spanish language cinema, I think this could fit the bill.

Step Into Liquid
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

Surf films are a funny breed. First of all there has always been a long-term steady upward trend in the 2 things you need to acquire good surf footage: 1) The level of surfing skills amongst surf professionals -and- 2) Camera, lens, and image acquisition technology. Therefore it follows that surf films are getting better and better on the same upward trend observed in the previously mentioned factors. OK, so that's at least partly true, but surf films are also a little bit like pornography in that they require 'filler'....set-up, interview, and activities-other-than-surfing that can sometimes add an undeniable charm, as in the famous 'Endless Summer' films. Usually, though, all that yammering about 'the pure wave' or whatever is just a bunch of fluff to get you to the next scene of epic ride after epic ride. This film goes for the high road on both counts and creates a nice well-rounded viewing experience. The technology and technique involved in the film's best super-rip footage is definitely as good as modern surf footage gets, but the thematic threads that hold the film's vignettes together are much more genuine and widely appreciable than most surf films. If you are a surfer or like surf films you will really like this film a lot. It is not 'cool' or 'hip' at all, just very very genuine....with some super-sick rides captured as well.

Swimming with Sharks
(1994)

[IMDB Link]

This is a dark comedy that has many of the kind of sharply critical depictions of the film industry as 'The Player'. Kevin Spacey stars as the enigmatic and vicious Buddy Ackerman, a Hollywood producer who gains stature through the subjugation of his inferiors and the subversion of his peers. The other principal characters are played by Michelle Forbes and Frank Whaley, but their adequate talents are entirely diffuse next to the towering might of Mr. Spacey's performance. As a Trekie I find it strange to watch popular Star Trek actors portray 'normal' non-space-related characters....Ms. Forbes played Ensign Ro Laren on 'The Next Generation' for several years. I feel kinda bad for them....it is a stigma that has pigeonholed the careers of almost everyone who has starred on any of the 5 TV shows they've fielded to date. Her performance in this was not good enough to dispel that stigma. Anyway, you've gotta love any 'comedy' that includes home invasion and brutal torture, but I recommend this film hesitantly and without enthusiasm. It was just OK.

Castle in the Sky
(1986)

[IMDB Link]

There are 5 'major' animated features by director Hayao Miyazaki....soon to be 6 since 'Howl's Moving Castle' will be released in Japan in the fall of this year. This film is the first of them all, and even though it's the oldest it has every bit of the intricacy and substance as the others (which for the record are 'My Neighbor Totoro', 'Kiki's Delivery Service', 'Princess Mononoke', and 'Spirited Away'). If you have read the other reviews on this page or been cornered by me in a film conversation lately you know that I think very highly of Miyazaki's work, and I don't want to repeat any of the gushing comments I've made in the other films' reviews....so I'll just take this opportunity to mention a common theme in these films that I have not taken notice of before: All of the films have at least one really major part of the story that revolves around flying. There are many elements of these films that lead me to believe that Miyazaki is actively and intelligently trying to approximate the sensation of a visceral dreamstate in his films, and I believe that the presence of flying (and also falling) in all 5 of his features is a part of this plan....especially since the flying is depicted as supernatural and occasionally precarious, as it sometimes is in a real flying dream. In 'Castle in the Sky' flying is a central part of the story, so much so that I even got a touch of vertigo in a couple of scenes. The principal difference between this film and the others is the presence of a fair amount of gun violence. Nevertheless it is a great children's story, and like Miyazaki's other films it is highly recommended.

The Animatrix
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

[IMDB Link]

This film is just about what you would expect from a 45 year old Japanese comedy....it was ultra-cute and not the least bit funny. The gag humor seemed to be isolated to fart jokes....and then there was the kid who kept shitting himself....but despite the scatological humor the film was otherwise quite reserved. It was most enjoyable to me as a window on the culture that created and consumed it....which was 1959 Japan. I really enjoyed the colorful sets and costumes, which were exagerated by the saturated 'technicolor' look of the transfer print. The story ties together a group of families in a suburban setting. There are a bunch of gossiping housewives who scandalize amongst themselves in what seems like extremely sexist stereotyping. The husbands are reserved salarymen, and the kids are all boys. There is an extreme status-conciousness amongst the characters that is based on consumerism (ie. who buys the new washing machine, etc.), and the film centers around two of the boys who take a vow of silence in protest of their parents' reluctance to buy a TV set. This film would probably not be of much interest to anyone except a true Nipponophile.

Legally Blonde
(2001)

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
(2003)

[IMDB Link 'Legally Blonde']
[IMDB Link 'Legally Blonde 2']

Ahem. No, I have not lost my mind. These were great films....funny and clever and very well performed. Reese Witherspoon is great in both films, and reminds me of a young Goldie Hawn or Lucille Ball; very beautiful, but not so much in a glamorous way....more like in a hilarious way. In terms of performance her timing and delivery are fantastic, and the character she develops is a perfect blend of annoying stereotypes that somehow comes out as likeable and entirely sympathtic. The supporting cast also made a major contribution to the overall hilarity, including the amazing Jennifer Coolidge who you'll regognize from 'Best in Show', 'A Mighty Wind', and 'American Pie'. It's hard to say if the first or second of these films was better, and it should be noted that at the very end of LB2 there is a great set-up for a third film....which I am most certainly looking forward to. If you are a brooding artistic soul who requires philosophical depth in a film in order to get enjoyment from it you will not like these movies. Everyone else will pee in their pants.

Mephisto
(1981)

[IMDB Link]

I tend to be a little skeptical when viewing German films about the Nazis. There is an obvious and appropriate cultural sorrow over the fact that their grandfathers and grandmothers were at best unable to resist Hitler's rise to power, and at worst supportive and complicit with his regime. But sometimes their films about this unhappy time in their nation's history take liberties with the facts to provide an 'explanation' or (god forbid) excuse for how a basically civilized culture could allow such evil to remain unchecked for so many years. In the case of 'Mephisto' the story is about a great German stage actor who despite his fundamentally liberal ideology finds himself kissing Nazi ass in order to maintain his social and professional status in Berlin. He did this while friends, family, and colleagues were arrested and/or killed and others fled the country. Although he meekly tried to use his influence to help or save some of these friends etc, he was essentially ineffective. To watch this film you would think that the Nazis primarily targeted communists, homosexuals, mixed-race Africans, and artists....the Jews were portrayed as a minor target of persecution. Because this film takes place in the early-30's around the time Hitler was first made chancellor, this is not entirely inaccurate....as the saying goes: 'First they came for the communists....' etc.. Still, the legacy of Germany in the 30's through VE-day is primarily one of institutionalized genocide, and I am wary of any film about the Nazis that glosses over this. We live in a world where 'civilized' governments like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran openly support institutionalized hatred based on race and religion; millions of people all over the world think that the killing of US citizens on 9/11/01 was a gift from God; and the executive authority of the world's only remaining 'super-power' has been placed in the hands of liars and criminals. We might think we've come a long way since WWII, but as a world community we are really not all that far removed from the 1932 Germany depicted in 'Mephisto'. At any rate, great performances in this film make it a semi-worthwhile viewing experience, although I was not all that sympathetic toward the main character as I believe the filmmakers intended....I thought he was a sniveling wimp. Also just to point out that there's no accounting for taste, this film was the 1981 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film.

Yojimbo
(1961)

[IMDB Link]

This is one of Akira Kurosawa's great samurai films. As the film opens the main character (a masterless samurai) wanders into a small town that is divided by strife between two nefarious groups of townsfolk fighting for control of the local gambling and prostitution trades. As an efficient and practiced killer in a town of moronic and undisciplined thugs he finds himself in a unique position to manipulate the situation to his advantage. There is an acute awareness of Hollywood 'style' (particularly westerns) in Kurosawa's earlier work, but he infuses it with a native sensibility to Japanese storytelling and mythology that makes for a very unique viewing experience. Unlike much of the foreign language cinema that finds an audience in the US this is not an art film. It is much closer to the brooding westerns of Sergio Leone than to the lofty intellectualism of Goddard, Bergman, or Herzog. The main character is played by the incredibly cool Toshirô Mifune, who is like a Japanese John Wayne/Clint Eastwood. The gun-toting samurai that is the nemesis of our main character is straight out of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', and further to that anyone who is intimately familiar with the early work of George Lucas can see many elements in 'Yojimbo' that clearly inspired some of the stylistic details of 'THX 1138' and 'Star Wars'. This is a great story that is very accessible to American viewers, and as long as you don't mind subtitles you'll like this film.

Funny Face
(1957)

[IMDB Link]

I have been accused of giving a lot of overly good grades and writing too many glowing reviews on this page, but in my own defense I usually do at least some research on the films before I screen them, and I don't generally plan to screen films that I don't expect to be of high-quality and at least moderate enjoyability. Occasionally, however, I am disappointed by a film I thought would be good, and 'Funny Face' falls squarely into that category. Fred Astaire seemed tired and bored throughout this entire film, and his dancing lacked all of the the creativity and spark that is the hallmark of his better films. Audrey Hepburn's character was insipid and annoying....not at all sympathetic, more like pathetic. And the music and lyrics (primarily by the legendary George Gershwin who was already dead 20 years when this film was released) sounded like they might have been composed in the midst of some drunken melancholy. The attempts at 'clever' cinematography, like the triple-split screen in one of the musical numbers, were really just plain stupid, and even some of the sets were totally half-assed and inauthentic. The overly (and badly) stereotyped beat-generation characters in both Greenwich Village and Paris just made this film seem even more 'square' than it already was, and the girly-girl fashion-maven crap was nearly as infuriating. The director, Stanley Donen, is certainly no hack (he also directed 'Singin' in the Rain', 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers', 'Damn Yankees!', 'Charade', 'The Little Prince', and 'Blame It on Rio' among others), but he really fucked this one up big-time.

Songs from the Second Floor
(2002)

[IMDB Link]

This is a VERY artsy film from Scandinavia (made in Sweden with a Swedish/Danish/Norwegian crew). It is a sequence of very loosely associated scenes that form a kind of cinematic poem. In most of the shots the camera is wide-angle and completely static, and the scenes unfold without edits under the auspices of the actors. The sets were all constructed in a studio environment so the composition and sequencing of the scenes was exhaustively tweaked and rehearsed....and it shows. If the characters in this film are any indication, the people of Sweden are even fatter than the people of Milwaukee. Perhaps not as fat as the people of Houston, but still.... Anyway, I enjoyed this film very much, but I will offer the caveat that it is big on art and little on story. That having been said it is very beautiful to watch and those of you with high tolerance for unabashed self-indulgence in cinematic art are likely to enjoy it as I did.

My Neighbor Totoro
(1988)

[IMDB Link]

This is an earlier animated film from director Hayao Miyazaki, who has directed several well-reviewed titles on this page ('Spirited Away', 'Princess Mononoke', 'Kiki's Delivery Service'). This film has the same naturalistic style and authentically portrayed kid-perspective that made those other films great. I love the fact that Mr. Miyazaki's films stand in contrast to so many of the conventions of classic American G-rated animation (read as 'primarily Disney'). I am not a Disney-basher, but I do recognize the occasionally glaring flaws in their corporate directives that have made them a target for the people who tend to over-analyze movies (like me). Miyazaki's films offer an alternative that helps to place Disney's work in a wider perspective. In the case of 'Totoro' (pronounced 'TOE-tər-oh') Miyazaki portrays two sisters who have recently moved to the country with their father (their mom is in a hospital in the 'city' suffering from some malady that is not clearly spelled out). While they are settling in, the girls encounter creatures from an ambiguous spirit world that are mysterious and also a little intimidating. The spiritual superstition that permeates the way all the characters (adults too) respond to this supernatural discovery would never make it in a Disney film, probably because they have such a strong interest in avoiding offense to the American public's christian sensibilities....but in this film it is so very charming. Also, I don't think you would ever see naked children in a Disney film....particularly naked children hanging out with their naked father in a hot bath (as occurs in a very cute little scene in 'Totoro')....despite the fact that bathtime is an entirely natural and joyous part of the lives of many children in many different cultures. For me this is not a question of what is 'appropriate' content for a children's film, it is a question of what level of authenticity is required to really speak to children (and, ahem, adults too), and to tell a story that dovetails with their unique and unspoiled perspectives on the world. One of the reasons that 'Monsters, Inc' stands well above all of the other films ever released by the Walt Disney Company (obviously just my opinion) is the fact that it captured some of this kind of authenticity that has eluded so many of their other films....many of which, it should be said, are excellent and beautiful films anyway. At any rate, this is a great children's film. Those of you who appreciate great animation regardless of your age, particularly folks who are fans of Miyazaki, will love it.

House of Sand and Fog
(2003)

[IMDB Link]

The reviewer from the SF Chronicle called this 'the feel-bad movie of the year', and despite his cheeky smart-ass sentiment in the face of such a profoundly tragic story I think he's just about right. This is a true tragedy in the Shakespearean sense. The story has resolution, but there is no redeeming joy or sense that there might be a glimmer of hope past the end. This film is a complete and downright bummer. There are no 'bad-guys' and/or 'good-guys'....just a bunch of relatively normal characters making a bunch of unfortunate decisions. As you would expect, Sir Ben Kingsley gives a jaw-dropping performance as Col. Behrani, an exiled Iranian Air Force commander living in California who has suffered the humiliation of being stripped of the lofty social status he maintained before his government was overthrown by the Ayatollahs. Jennifer Connelly is also very good as a sort-of-recovering alcoholic, although the filmmakers did not adequately portray the complexity of a realistic struggle against addiction. Also impressive was the young Jonathan Ahdout who played Behrani's son Esmail. However, IMO the most authentically striking performance of the film came from Shohreh Aghdashloo who plays Behrani's wife Nadi. For her role in this film she became the first Iranian to be nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. If you are feeling depressed I recommend that you not screen this film until you cheer up a bit. For those of you who's lives are peachy this film will remind you that living is at best a pointless exercise in futility, and at worst a maelstrom of ironic suffering.

Children of Heaven
(1999)

[IMDB Link]

Dirty Pretty Things
(2002)

[IMDB Link]

The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols Film
(2000)

[IMDB Link]

Modern Times
(1936)

The Great Dictator (1940)

[IMDB Link 'Modern Times']
[IMDB Link 'Great Dictator']

Charlie Chaplin is among the very few truly iconic actors in the history of cinema. It's not just the bowler, tails, and cane....it's the wild flailing gestures, exaggerated facial expressions, the trademark toe-out walk....as well as all kinds of subtleties too sublime to effectively describe here. Both of these films were made long after the heyday of the silent era in which Chaplin became famous....but of course he remained a celebrity and continued to have an audience for his films throughout his entire life. 'Modern Times' (1936) is a very interesting comedy that lampoons the newest technological advances of the day (mid-30's) while addressing the political and social divisions inherent in the 'modern' workplace....as well as society in general, touching on labor rights and the plight of the depression-era poor. He sticks with the silent-film conventions of storytelling throughout most of the film, but uses synch-sound very sparingly in a few scenes which creates some interesting and amusing results. Most film historians recognize 'Modern Times' as Chaplin's last silent film. 'The Great Dictator' is a very different film which abandons the silent-film style in favor of 1940's contemporary synch-sound dialogue style. As you might imagine it is a satirical allegory of Hitler, but it also touches on related issues, like the plight of the European Jews, the cult-of-personality driven nationalism that was gripping Europe at the time, and the complacence of the ruling-classes in the face of the Nazi menace. As a world traveler and celebrity socialite Chaplin had strong feelings about what was happening in Europe in the late 30's, and like many Americans at the time he thought that the US should be more involved. Assumedly because of these feelings Chaplin used his influence to make and release this film....and I say that because it is so self-indulgently political and timely that as a modern viewer it is a little hard to get into. On a scene-by-scene basis there are plenty of great Chaplin gags, including a v funny barbershop scene that was almost certainly the principal inspiration for a similar scene in the 1957 Bugs/Elmer classic 'What's Opera Doc'. But unlike Chaplin's best films the exquisitely goofy moments in 'The Great Dictator' don't really blend with each other or the overall arc of the story. Of course just over a year after this film's release the US did get into the war and we all know the rest. 'The Great Dictator' is perhaps not as e